Incident Plane Wave Research Articles

Gradient metasurface covered with water-based channels for reconfigurable RCS reduction

A gradient metasurface covered with water-based channels (GMWC) is proposed for RCS (radar cross section) reduction reconfiguration. The amplitude and phase response of the metasurface unit covered by the water-based channel (WC) is altered, which results in a change in the monostatic scattering of the GMWC. Under the normal incidence of X-polarized plane waves, the RCS reduction of GMWC shows different levels when different water channels are activated. The simulated results show that the average RCS reduction of GMWC increases from 5 dB to 20 dB in 5 dB steps in the 6 GHz to 8.2 GHz frequency band under four different reconstruction states (10000;01000;00100;00001). Besides, GMWC has an average RCS reduction of 10 dB within UWB (4–18 GHz) under state 10000. Finally, GMWC is fabricated and measured, and the measured results are in agreement with the simulated results. The RCS reduction reconfiguration characteristic of GMWC has potential application in target camouflage.

Far field operator splitting and completion in inverse medium scattering

Abstract We study scattering of time-harmonic plane waves by compactly supported inhomogeneous objects in a homogeneous background medium. The far field operator associated to a fixed scatterer describes multi-static remote observations of scattered fields corresponding to arbitrary superpositions of plane wave incident fields at a single frequency. In this work we consider far field operators for systems of two well-separated scattering objects, and we discuss the nonlinear inverse problem to recover the far field operators associated to each of these two scatterers individually. This is closely related to the question whether the two components of the scatterer can be distinguished by means of inverse medium scattering in a stable way. We also study the restoration of missing or inaccurate components of an observed far field operator and comment on the benefits of far field operator splitting in this context. Both problems are ill-posed without further assumptions, but we give sufficient conditions on the diameter of the supports of the scatterers, the distance between them, and the size of the missing or corrupted data component to guarantee stable recovery whenever sufficient a priori information on the location of the unknown scatterers is available. We provide algorithms, error estimates, a stability analysis, and we demonstrate our theoretical predictions by numerical examples.

Effects of honeycomb panel's finite dimensions on acoustic performance for lightweight sound insulation

A honeycomb panel is considered as a lightweight sound insulation solution both numerically and experimentally. First, a unit cell with fixed and infinite periodic conditions is modeled, exhibiting high insulation levels up to the membrane's eigenfrequency. Closer to industrial applications, a numerical model is developed, where the fixed conditions are applied only on the sides of the finite honeycomb panel. Taking into account structural modes of longer wavelength with this configuration, the panel's first eigenfrequency occurs at lower frequency than the previous case, yielding to a reduced insulation power. Nevertheless, the low frequency performance obtained numerically on the honeycomb panel is validated with measurements under normal incidence plane waves and diffuse field excitations.

Experimental validation of anomalous acoustic wave refraction using Double layered acoustic gratings

Acoustic metasurfaces (AMSs) have garnered increasing attention over the past decade due to their remarkable capability for wave manipulation. AMSs have been widely applied in diverse domains, including anomalous refraction and extraordinary sound absorption/isolation, among others. However, typical AMS designs, such as Helmholtz resonator-like or labyrinthine structures, are often geometrically complex, limiting their practical usability. In this paper, we introduce an ultracompact Double Layered Acoustic Grating (DLAG) to achieve anomalous acoustic wave refraction. The DLAG comprises double-layered rigid panels with multiple perforated subwavelength slits. By optimizing the positions of these slits on the rigid panels, the acoustic energy of an obliquely incident plane wave can be concentrated within a predetermined region in an arbitrary direction. The paper will first review the theoretical background to predict the wave propagation controlled by DLAGs based on the surface coupling approach. Subsequently, the underlying principle to achieve anomalous refraction using DLAGs will be discussed. A 3D-printed DLAG with the optimized slit positions is used for demonstration. In the experiment, the acoustic energy of a plane wave with an incident angle of 36 degrees was successfully collimated within a predetermined focusing region with a negative refracted angle of -36 degrees.

A novel broadband low backscattering antenna array based on integration of absorptive and coding metasurface

AbstractThis paper presents a low‐scattering 1 × 2 patch array antenna combining resistive and coding metasurfaces (MSs) for the reduction of wideband‐backscatter. An artificial magnetic conductor technology is used to validate the proposed technique, which is fundamentally based on scattering, phase cancellation, and absorptive property of the MS. By integration of coding MS elements and an absorbent unit cell, three different array blocks are utilized to significantly reduce the monostatic and bistatic backscattered energy level from 6.5 to 16.5 GHz, as well as overall reduction from 5 to 22 GHz. Under the incidence of plane waves, various reflection phases have been observed. The diffusion of the scattering energy from the surface can be achieved by carefully choosing the phase distributions for the reflected waves. Additionally, the bistatic backscattered energy level of the prototype is realized at various frequency points. This technique is validated using artificial magnetic conductors, which uniquely combine the effects of scattering, phase cancellation, and absorption in the MS's hybrid unit cells. Further, antenna array parameters are optimized for frequency, polarization, and angular diversity, S‐parameters, radiating efficiency, reducing radar cross section (RCS) in the wideband range and ensuring robust performance. The experimental results were substantiated by simulations of the reference and proposed prototypes suggesting that the proposed prototype can be a good candidate for applications that require a low monostatic and bistatic RCS platform.

Metasurface with two-dimensional gradient-index phase distribution constructed by rotation ellipse elements for backward RCS reduction

ABSTRACT In this letter, the realization of minimizing the scattering of the Ku band is investigated by designing a two-dimensional gradient-index metasurface to control the propagation of the incident waves. Through the gradient phase design, the maximum RCS reduction was observed at 14 GHz, the x-polarized plane wave exhibits an RCS reduction of 15.43 dB, while the y-polarized plane wave shows an RCS reduction of 13.13 dB compared to the same size of PEC. The proposed metasurface with low backward RCS shows the capability to scatter the incident plane wave in different directions at both normal and oblique incidence. According to equation 2, by calculating the variable phase distribution of large-scale arrays at different frequencies, the maximum reduction of RCS can be obtained at any frequencies. Therefore, this work effectively designs and suggests the research of low RCS metasurface at different frequencies.

Ultra-wide viewing angle holographic display system based on spherical diffraction

In the field of holographic displays, achieving a large viewing angle (LVA) has long been an essential and formidable challenge due to the limited diffraction angle of planar spatial light modulators (SLMs). Spherical holography, which allows observation from all perspectives, represents a practical approach to achieve the LVA. However, the physical limitations of commercial SLMs constrain direct implementation, making the realization of spherical holographic displays almost impractical and thus hindering technological advancement. This paper introduces an optical solution for spherical holographic display system, enabling the accurate reproduction of ultra-wide viewing angles and large objects. Our system utilizes a novel technique involving a convex parabolic mirror to convert an incident plane wave into a spherical wave. This innovative strategy permits the use of a planar SLM to create a 360°spherical holographic display. Additionally, we address the sampling issue for generating spherical holograms by constraining the point spread function (PSF), reducing the number of samples, and adapting it for visible light. Numerical simulations and optical experiments validate our success in achieving an ultra-wide viewing angle with a 360°horizontal angle and an 80°zenith angle range. Our system outperforms the state-of-the-art holographic-optical-elements approach both in computation speed and object size. We believe that our work significantly advances spherical holographic displays and offers a practical solution with vast potential applications in medicine, geology, and astronomy.

Nonlinear Seismic Response of Tunnel Structures under Traveling Wave Excitation

Tunnels traditionally regarded as resilient to seismic events have recently garnered significant attention from engineers owing to a rise in incidents of seismic damage. In this paper, the reflection characteristics of the elastic plane wave incident on the free surface are analyzed, and the matrix analysis method SWIM (Seismic Wave Input Method) for the calculation of equivalent nodal loads with artificial truncated boundary conditions for seismic wave oblique incidence is established by using coordinate transformation technology, according to the displacement velocity and stress characteristics of a plane wave. The results show that the oblique incidence method is more effective in reflecting the traveling wave effect, and the “rotational effect” induced by oblique incidence must be considered for P wave and SV wave incidence, including the associated stress and deformation. This effect exhibits markedly distinct rotational phenomenon. In particular, the P wave incidence should be focused on the vault and the inverted arch due to the expansion wave. With the increase of the oblique incidence angle, the structural stress and deformation are rotated to a certain extent, and the values are significantly increased. Simultaneously, the shear action of the SV wave may result in “ovaling” of the tunnel structure, thereby facilitating damage to the arch shoulder and the sidewall components. As the oblique incidence angle, the potentially damaging effects of the “rotational effect” to the vault and the inverted arch, but the numerical value does not change significantly. In addition, in comparison to a circular cross-section, the low-frequency amplification of seismic waves in the surrounding rock and the difference of frequency response function in different parts of the lining are more pronounced. In particular, the dominant frequency characteristics are significant at P wave incidence and the seismic wave signal attenuation tends to be obvious with increasing incidence angle. In contrast, SV waves exhibit more uniform characteristics.

Polarization-independent quasi-BIC supported by non-rotationally symmetric dimer metasurfaces.

Asymmetric metasurfaces supporting quasi-bound states in the continuum (-BICs) have recently attracted significant interest in the field of nanophotonics due to their high quality factor and strong light-matter interaction properties. However, asymmetric metasurface structures are susceptible to the polarization state of the incident light, which constrains their potential applications. In this Letter, we present a new, to our knowledge, scheme of polarization-independent quasi-BIC resonance supported by a non-rotationally symmetric nanorod dimer metasurface. By tuning the asymmetry parameter, the designed metasurface exhibits a consistent quasi-BIC response for incident plane waves of arbitrary polarization. The physical mechanism of the quasi-BIC resonance is elucidated by the study of the far-field multipole decomposition and the near-field electromagnetic distribution. We then point out that the realization of the polarization-independent quasi-BIC resonance depends on the transition between magnetic and electric quadrupoles. Furthermore, the designed metasurface is demonstrated to have excellent refractive index sensing performance. This work provides a new idea for the design of polarization-independent and high-performance resonators.

Signatures of top versus bottom illuminations and their predicted implications for infrared transmission microspectroscopy.

Since both top and bottom illuminations are widely used in infrared transmission measurements, in this paper, we study the effects of different illuminations on the signatures in infrared microspectroscopy. By simulating a series of dielectric samples, we show that their extinction efficiency, , remains unchanged when the direction of the incident plane wave is reversed, even though the field distributions both inside and outside of the sample may be dramatically different. We find features in that are correlated with whispering gallery modes for one beam direction and correspond to completely different field distributions for the opposite beam direction. In addition, by linking the optical theorem and the reciprocity relation of far-field scattered field, we rigorously prove the invariance of for arbitrary dielectric targets under opposite plane-wave illuminations. Furthermore, we show the difference in the apparent absorbance spectrum for opposite beam directions when considering numerical apertures.

Interference mechanism of plasma self-organization in transparent dielectrics under the intense femtosecond laser pulse exposure

A new mechanism of plasma self-organization in transparent dielectrics with wide bandgap exposed to the intense tightly focused laser radiation was revealed, which causes the generation of 3D periodic ring structures with subwavelength period both along the laser pulse propagation and in the radial direction. The mechanism involves formation of dense plasma burst in the pre-focal region that provides efficient scattering of the incident wave. The interference of a plane incident laser wave in the focal region and a divergent reflected one will form the standing wave pattern with local minima and maxima of laser field both in the direction of the incident wave propagation and perpendicular to it producing the ring patterns of effective ionization regions in the dielectric volume. Analytical and numerical simulations of the process of laser wave scattering on a near-spherical plasma object with dimensions both smaller and larger than the laser radiation wavelength are performed to verify the proposed model.

The role of the foundation flexibility on the seismic response of a modern tall building: Vertically incident plane waves

The soil-structure interaction (SSI) is an integral part of the seismic response of structures. The knowledge about its effects is based largely on numerical simulations involving simplified models. In this paper, we examine the consequence of several assumptions in SSI models of buildings, with emphasis on the rigid foundation assumption. To this end, we analyze several variants of a linear three-dimensional finite element model of the structure and soil corresponding to a uniquely instrumented 50-story skyscraper, with a basement on a pile foundation, located in southwest China. The models are excited by triaxial motion due to a vertically incident plane wave. The most realistic model (with basement and piles, both with bond contact with the soil), predicted an 8 % reduction of the apparent frequency and a 30 %–50 % increase in the apparent damping ratio of the 1st mode of vibration, relative to the model with fixed basement. The model with a rigid foundation (basement) embedded in the soil underestimated the reduction in apparent frequency by a factor of two. The SSI effects were the most pronounced for the model with flexible basement and no piles (16 %–19 % reduction in apparent frequency and 73 %–86 % increase in apparent damping ratio). The basement-structure interaction reduced the apparent frequency by 5 %–8 % depending on the direction. It is concluded that, for such a building, a detailed model of the structure and its foundation is needed to predict reliably the SSI effects.

Bound state in the continuum and polarization-insensitive electric mirror in a low-contrast metasurface

High-contrast refractive indices are pivotal in dielectric metasurfaces for inducing various exotic phenomena, such as the bound state in the continuum (BIC) and electric mirror (EM). However, the limitations of high-index materials are adverse to practical applications, thus, low-contrast metasurfaces offering comparable performance are highly desired. Here, we present a low-contrast dielectric metasurface composed of radial anisotropic cylinders, which are SiO2 cylinders doped with a small amount of WS2. The cylinder exhibits unidirectional forward superscattering resulting from the overlap of the electric and magnetic dipole resonances. When a near-infrared plane wave incident normally, the metasurface consisting of the superscattering constituents manifests a polarization-insensitive EM. In contrast, when subjected to an in-plane incoming wave, the metasurface generates a symmetry-protected BIC characterized by an ultrahigh Q factor and nearly negligible out-of-plane energy radiation. Notably, the EM response of the metasurface exhibits robustness to deviation in the number and thickness of WS2 layers. Our work highlights the doping approach as an efficient strategy for designing low-contrast functional metasurfaces, thereby shedding new light on the potential applications in photonic integrated circuits and on-chip optical communication.

Dielectric terahertz metasurface governed by symmetry-protected BIC for ultrasensitive sensing

The non-radiative bound states in the continuum (BIC) have attracted much attention in achieving theoretically infinite quality (Q) factor. In this paper, a dielectric terahertz metasurface with C 4v symmetry is proposed, and a toroidal dipole resonance is easily obtained under incident plane wave. Moreover, by slightly tuning the asymmetry parameter δ to break the in-plane symmetry of the structure (side length perturbation), a magnetic dipole BIC mode radiates as quasi-BIC (QBIC) with extremely narrow linewidth and ultrahigh Q of 1.2 × 104 at δ = 0.4 μm. It shows significant performance in THz sensing with the sensitivity around 446 GHz/RIU and figure of merit (FoM) up to 2267. The designed metasurface in the case of symmetry-breaking by position perturbation also achieves ultrasensitive sensing. Additionally, the effects of geometric parameters on the resonance modes have been comprehensively investigated. Our work provides a route to design symmetry-protected BIC metasurface with simple structure, and the Q factor as well as resonant frequency can be controlled using a single geometric parameter, which may facilitate designing high-performance metasurface in sensing applications.

Deblurring of Beamformed Images in the Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Using Deep Learning-Based Deconvolution

A horizontal towed linear coherent hydrophone array is often employed to estimate the spatial intensity distribution of incident plane waves scattered from the geological and biological features in an ocean acoustic waveguide using conventional beamforming. However, due to the physical limitations of the array aperture, the spatial resolution after conventional beamforming is often limited by the fat main lobe and the high sidelobes. Here, we propose a method originated from computer vision deblurring based on deep learning to enhance the spatial resolution of beamformed images. The effect of image blurring after conventional beamforming can be considered a convolution of beam pattern, which acts as a point spread function (PSF), and the original spatial intensity distributions of incident plane waves. A modified U-Net-like network is trained on a simulated dataset. The instantaneous acoustic complex amplitude is assumed following circular complex Gaussian random (CCGR) statistics. Both synthetic data and experimental data collected from the South China Sea Experiment in 2021 are used to illustrate the effectiveness of this approach, showing a maximum 700% reduction in a 3 dB width over conventional beamforming. A lower normalized mean square error (NMSE) is provided compared with other deconvolution-based algorithms, such as the Richardson–Lucy algorithm and the approximate likelihood model-based deconvolution algorithm. The method is applicable in various acoustic imaging applications that employ linear coherent hydrophone arrays with one-dimensional conventional beamforming, such as ocean acoustic waveguide remote sensing (OAWRS).

Analysis of Reader Orientation on Detection Performance of Hilbert Curve-based Fractal Chipless RFID Tags

The role of the orientation of the radio frequency identification (RFID) reader is vital in the RFID-based communication system. This study presents the design and analysis of the impact of the orientation of the RFID reader (angle of incidence of the plane wave) on the detection and sensitivity characteristics of fractal chipless RFID tags. Four fractal (irregular) shaped tags are developed using four iterations of the Hilbert curve filling algorithm. The full-wave EM analysis of the designed tags in Matlab is performed by exporting them in Computer Simulation Technologies Micro-Wave Studio (CST MWS) in the frequency range of 2 to 20 GHz. Firstly, the performance of the tags is analyzed by observing the radar cross-section (RCS) of the tag for the fixed orientation of the incident plane wave in three different polarizations (horizontal, vertical, and oblique). Later, the variations in the EM spectrum (RCS results) are analyzed for oblique polarization by varying the incidence plane wave in both elevations (for two cases of 0∘ and 90∘) and azimuth planes (sweeping from 0∘ to 180∘ with a step size of 10∘). The analysis of the proposed aggregated RCS response for all cases in oblique polarization produces higher coding capacity (169 bits), coding spatial capacity (16.504 bits/cm2), coding spectral capacity (9.826 bits/GHz), and coding density (0.960 bits/GHz/cm2) for the realized highly irregular tag using fourth-iteration (4T) of Hilbert curve filling algorithm. The proposed procedure of detection based on aggregated response makes the developed RFID communication system more secure and reliable.

Perfect transmission through lossy layers via ideal acoustic sources

Complementary acoustic metamaterials (CAMMs) have been proposed as a means of enhancing the transmission of acoustic imaging signals through aberrating layers. Aberrating layers with high impedance contrast compared to the surrounding material disrupt the acoustic field and hence distort acoustic images. However, conventional CAMMs are passive and thus unable to compensate for signal distortions associated with loss. This work presents an approach inspired by CAMMs that is not bound by the limits of passivity to compensate for both acoustic scattering and energy attenuation by augmenting a plane wave incident on a lossy material with monopolar and dipolar source fields to allow for perfect transmission, thus rendering the lossy medium acoustically transparent. We present a general approach to derive expressions for source magnitudes that are dimensionless with respect to frequency, system geometry, and the background medium. We validate these results with three-dimensional finite element simulations, where the appropriate monopolar and dipolar source fields are generated by prescribing velocities on finite-dimensional boundaries. We show the limitations of this approach with regard to frequency, system geometry, and lossy material characteristics via a parametric study.

Chiral-assisted geometric phase metasurfaces: Manipulating orbital angular momentum for efficient and stable microwave attenuation

Chiral wave-absorbing metamaterials can enhance microwave attenuation performance by converting linearly polarized waves into circularly polarized waves. However, the mechanism for transforming incident waves into vortex waves to overcome the angular momentum mismatch to satisfy broadband stealth is unclear. This work proposes a chiral-assisted geometrically phase (CAGP) metasurfaces that utilizes the Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) phase concept to convert incident plane waves into reflected vortex waves. Such metamaterials demonstrate adaptive transformation capabilities under the incidence of electromagnetic (EM) waves with multi-polarization modes, providing an effective absorption bandwidth (≥90 % absorptivity, reflection loss ≤ −10 dB) reaches 6.92 GHz (9.16–16.08 GHz) at a thickness of 2.48 mm. Based on an orbital angular momentum (OAM) phase and amplitude analysis, the mode purity of the generated vortex waves is discussed in detail, and the mechanisms are analyzed and verified by simulation models to confirm their effectiveness and practicability. Additionally, the metamaterials exhibit excellent radar cross-section (RCS) reduction properties and stable polarization insensitivity properties. In short, this work presents a tailorable metasurface to manipulate the OAM spectrum and achieve broadband microwave attenuation, which holds great potential for various applications in chiral wave-absorbing metamaterials.

Shielding Characteristics of Planar Lossy Materials for Obliquely Incident Plane Waves

Shielding Characteristics of Planar Lossy Materials for Obliquely Incident Plane Waves

Optical matter based on graphene surface plasmons.

In this work, we have proposed a graphene planar structure as an optical binding device of dielectric nanoparticles. Surface plasmons (SPs) on a graphene sheet, generated thanks to the near field scattering of the incident plane wave by the nanoparticles placed close to the graphene sheet, act as a powerful intermediary for enhancing the optical force between nanoparticles to organize the particle structure at length scales comparable with the plasmon wavelength, i.e., at the light sub-wavelength scale. In particular, we have paid attention to the formation of one-dimensional arrays of nanoparticles. Our results show that both the equilibrium separation between particles and the energy potential binding depend on the number of particles forming the array and that the former tends to the plasmon wavelength (the array constant) for a number of particles large enough. We have obtained simple analytical expressions that explain the main results obtained by using the rigorous theory. Our contribution can be valuable for the knowledge in the low-frequency optical binding framework, from terahertz to far-infrared spectrum.